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Letter: Record article just sour grapes

September 2, 2012

Letter: Record article only sour grapes

Jamie ParhamSt Augustine, FL

Dear Editor:

A flier recommending candidates in the Republican Primary Election who we felt best represented traditional Republican values, was distributed during the Primary Election campaigns by the Ronald Reagan Republican Assemblies of Florida Inc., of which I am the President of the St Johns Chapter.

It has been mischaracterized by Peter Guinta and the St Augustine Record.

The sensationalized headline, “Some in GOP ‘livid’ over last-minute flier by local tea party to sway votes” is absurd on the face of it. The Ronald Reagan Republican Assemblies of Florida Inc., is a statewide organization, not a “local tea party”. Our members are conservative Republican citizens who vote.

Although I support the Tea Party movement, I am not a member of the St Augustine Tea Party, St Johns County Tea Party, Molasses Junction Tea Party, First Coast Tea Party, or any other Tea Party — I am a registered member of the Republican Party and an elected Precinct Committeeman of the Republican Party of St Johns County.

The Guinta article in The St Augustine Record sounds like an editor’s personal vendetta — where anything you do not like is automatically labeled “Tea Party”.

Guinta and The Record quote Becky Reichenberg as the source of the inflammatory remark. I find it interesting that Reichenberg was a candidate for Republican State Committeewoman in the Republican Primary Election August 14; however, her opponent was endorsed by the St Johns Chapter of Ronald Reagan Republican Assemblies of Florida in the flyer she has criticized.

I do not understand why newspapers like The Record, their writer Peter Guinta and editor Pete Ellis, attack grassroots organizations with which they are not familiar.

The St Augustine Record endorsed mostly liberal-leaning candidates, both Democrats and those registered as Republicans. They published false accusations against the local Republican Executive Committee, attacked local conservatives who opposed their election choices as well as other publications who supported grassroots, conservative candidates, and now they are critical of the Ronald Reagan Republican Assemblies of Florida and me.

I got into politics for one reason alone, and that is to ensure that the future of my children would be as bright as my own.

When Republicrats feel threatened by grassroots civic activities, it just sounds like sour grapes to me.